Fjords Recliner Chairs Reviews 2023

Are you suffering from chronic back pain? Your furniture might be making things worse for you.

Most living room furniture isn’t designed with your back and posture in mind, and because of that, a lot of chairs are either too low or don’t provide proper lumbar and upper back support. Either way, the bottom line is that your furniture could be working against you by fostering bad posture habits.

The good news is that there’s an easy fix for that. While ergonomically designed furniture is still just a small slice of the overall market, it is rapidly growing and there are now a number of respected brands offering great designs at prices to suit every budget.

If you live in the United States, you’ve probably never heard of Fjords, but they have a huge presence in the European market and have been making high-quality furniture for more than seventy years. 

They’re also one of the first companies to have embraced ergonomic furniture design, and as such, there are few companies that do it better. The Hjellegjerde Fjords recliners reviews you find all over the internet reflect this. They’re simply exquisite products.

Fjords Hjellegjerde makes a broad range of furniture, including Fjords office chairs, sofas, and the like, but we’ll be looking primarily at their extensive collection of Fjords leather recliners in this piece. 

Broadly speaking, Fjords leather recliners can be broken down into four different segments. These are:

Before we go into more detail about each of these product lines and the chairs themselves, let’s start by giving you a broad overview of each segment so you can compare and contrast them:

About Fjords Recliners

Euro-Swivel Frame Series

The Muldal recliner (often referred to on Amazon as the “Fjords Norwegian recliner”) is the “entry-level” chair in the Euro-Swivel Frame series, and was our overall winner in our recent roundup review and consistently wins high praise from Fjords recliners reviews around the web. 

As such, it will probably come as no surprise that the rest of the chairs in this section of the company’s product line are fantastic as well, although in our view, offering slightly less in terms of overall value. Still, if you have money to spend, then you’re going to love some of the other chairs in this segment of the company’s product line.

Euro-C Frame Series

In a similar vein, the three chairs in the “Euro-C Frame” product line represent the bleeding edge of Fjords’ ergonomic recliner designs. They’re the most expensive chairs the company makes, but if money’s no object, they’re probably going to be among your favorites.

Euro-Ami Fusion Series

Then there’s the “Euro-Ami Fusion” product line. These chairs are interesting because they look and feel a lot more like the recliners that Americans are used to sitting in, but there are subtle design differences that betray their European origins.

If you love American-style recliners, can’t quite fall in love with the company’s other models and are looking for something just a little bit different, then you’re probably going to like what you see in this section of our brand review.

Experimental Chairs

Finally, the company has a tendency to just let their design teams play to see what they come up with, thus, Fjords’ two “experimental” chairs.

We won’t be covering these in any detail. Not that these aren’t great chairs in their own right – they are! And not only that they are incredibly innovative designs but stellar design and inspiration are not enough.

Our focus here is on ergonomic, reclining lounge chairs. Unfortunately, the Lobster Chair, while absolutely stunning, is the only chair we’ve found in the Fjords lineup that doesn’t have ergonomic features built-in, which takes it out of the running for us.

The Phoenix Chair is amazing and has an ergonomic design, but it’s a side chair, not a lounger, and it has no recline function, so it too, is being left out of the mix. Having said that, if you’re looking for great side chairs, we do recommend them both, although, of the two, we regard the Phoenix as superior, both aesthetically and for our purposes, given its ergonomic features.

So, let’s take a closer look at each chair in each of the other three product lines.

Euro-Swivel Chairs – An Overview

As you can see, all of the Euro-Swivel chairs are quite close in terms of their overall ratings. What few differences there are exist at the margins, with two models (the Mustang and Regent) adding extra padding and an extra pillow for an even more comfortable seating experience. The somewhat more minimalist Senator is the only real departure, and even it may be an excellent option, depending on your home décor scheme.

Overall though, the Muldal wins the day as the best overall value, as in our view, the few tweaks and enhancements that the other chairs offer aren’t terribly significant. 

Obviously, it’s worth paying extra if you like the design of one of the other models more, but in terms of feature set and functionality, the Muldal has most everything the others offer, and it costs less.

As to the standard features on offer here, they are as follows:

Adjustability & Customization

There’s a lot to say here, because when you order a chair from Fjords, you have a staggering number of options to choose from at the point of sale. Let’s start with upholstery options and wood finishes.

Upholstery Options

Color and upholstery finishing options are broken into three groupings: The Nordic Line, Softline, and the Astro Line. Note that not all options are available in all models. The Muldal, for instance, is only available with Nordic Line upholstery options, while most of the other chairs (the Regent being the exception) are available in all three, which is one of the reasons they cost a bit more. 

Here are the details on the color lines:

Nordic Line vs. Softline vs. Astro Line

These three lines are more than just a different collection of colors though. 

The Nordic Line offers high quality leather upholstery treated to be more resistant to both liquids and the harmful effects of the sun’s rays. This upholstery stands up well over time and is ideal for furniture that is to be heavily used.

The Softline is a suppler finish, designed to maximize comfort. The tradeoff is that it’s not quite as stain and sun resistant as the Nordic Line.

The Astro Line is a semi-aniline upholstery finish, meaning that pigments have been applied to the leather to even out tones, mask blemishes, and make the upholstery extraordinarily more resistant to stains, wear, and the harmful effects of the sun.

The upholstery here is thicker than the other two, while still retaining much of its natural softness and comfort. This is the most durable of the upholstery options.

Wood Base Options

Additionally, the wood base can be ordered in:

Chair Size and Configurations

On top of that, each of these Fjords recliners can be ordered in either “large” or “small” configurations. This is a description of the seat depth and seat width. If you’re a shorter person, you know the dilemma. If you’re sitting in a chair that’s just too big for you, then your knees won’t bend if you’re sitting all the way back in the chair, because the seat is so deep that they physically can’t. 

Offering each model in two different size configurations is Fjords’ solution to that problem. 

Put all of this together and you get a comprehensive set of menu options that allow you to design exactly the chair you want, ensuring a perfect “fit” into whatever home décor scheme you have.

Comfort

Comfort-wise, while there are a few differences from one model to the next (which will be noted below), all of the chairs in this product line are incredibly comfortable, utilizing “cold cured” foam for padding. 

Cold-Cured Foam Padding

There are two things that set cold-cured foam apart from the standard block foam used to pad so many other pieces of furniture:

Ottoman Design

You’ll also note that the ottoman isn’t level but built at a slant, which makes for a more relaxing seating experience and encourages better blood flow and circulation to your lower extremities. A nice, subtle touch that further enhances the overall comfort of all of these chairs. Like the chair itself, the Ottoman features cold-cured foam, and is amazingly comfortable.

Ergonomic Support

Of course, we wouldn’t be talking about these chairs at all if they didn’t have full ergonomic support for both your lumbar region and your upper back. These features combined with the inherent comfort of the chairs to begin with just make them a joy to sit in. 

Recline Function

Unlike conventional, lever-action recliners, these Fjords recliner chairs see the recline function controlled via the company’s patented “Active Release” system. The chair back is mounted on glide rails which adjust the angle of recline based on the weight of the person sitting in the chair. Simply grip the arms and push back gently and you’ll recline to the perfect angle, automatically. When you’re ready to get up, simply lean forward and the chair will automatically move with you, helping you out of it.

Storage & Extras

None of these chairs come with magazine pouches or storage pockets, and honestly, you won’t miss them. In fact, we’ve never seen any Fjords recliner reviews that mentioned it as a negative. 

If they were present, they would detract from the design. You can tell that the company put all of their focus into making the best, most comfortable chair they possibly could, to the point that “extras” like these are rendered unnecessary.

The only “extra” you’ll find on offer in this product line is the fact that the seats swivel on their bases, which makes reaching the remote, phone, or magazine stored on a nearby side table a bit more convenient.

Ultimately what it comes down to then is finding the model that has the “right” aesthetic for you and offered in the colors you want. Below, we’ll provide a picture of each model, so you can get a feel for its aesthetic, and outline the color options available, noting other differences as applicable.

Some Assembly Required

Given that these chairs ship from overseas, it’s just more efficient to ship them disassembled, so don’t be surprised when you get the box and actually have to spend a bit of time putting the chair together.

The instructions are clear, and the manufacturing quality is top-notch, so everything fits seamlessly together, and construction is a snap. As with most projects like this, while it’s possible to do it by yourself, having a second pair of hands will be of great benefit. Also note that for an extra charge, you can order “White Glove” service and have it assembled for you. Well worth the extra money if you’d rather not be bothered.